1 00:00:14,68 --> 00:00:21,16 So I was reading. Because I didn't want to go down this. 2 00:00:22,26 --> 00:00:28,51 One hundred twenty one pages he says everything. About like the housing struggle. 3 00:00:31,56 --> 00:00:38,09 Or the. Addiction to work in the ninety's when people were getting 4 00:00:38,10 --> 00:00:44,92 displaced in the dark. And it was basically street level or the 5 00:00:44,93 --> 00:00:48,77 reason we're getting together not so many was getting 6 00:00:48,78 --> 00:00:55,04 a. Little demonstration was. Very 7 00:00:55,05 --> 00:00:58,93 grassroots were. Already yours. 8 00:01:02,79 --> 00:01:09,26 Is. Of the San Francisco Community Trust which is 9 00:01:09,93 --> 00:01:15,96 preserving. Buildings and really interest I knew we. Had 10 00:01:15,97 --> 00:01:22,77 a success. Building in Chinatown. Was 11 00:01:22,78 --> 00:01:27,69 going to be torn down for gentrification. General admission process of that he 12 00:01:27,70 --> 00:01:32,35 doesn't really like to prefer. Has 13 00:01:32,36 --> 00:01:37,56 a vision of this place me because that's the end result objectification and some of 14 00:01:37,57 --> 00:01:40,31 the. Beginning of the book there is 15 00:01:40,32 --> 00:01:46,98 a bit of. You know the housing housing 16 00:01:47,76 --> 00:01:52,76 problem is happening because the system isn't working it's happening because the 17 00:01:52,77 --> 00:01:55,00 system is working because this was 18 00:01:55,01 --> 00:02:01,65 a system you know designed to put. And. 19 00:02:10,42 --> 00:02:10,74 You know. 20 00:02:18,49 --> 00:02:23,28 And need. To hear you know Mr Trump 21 00:02:23,83 --> 00:02:30,02 thank. One of the great architects of the civil rights movement 22 00:02:30,26 --> 00:02:36,46 Elegy Baker observed that movements are built mostly on the hard work of the people 23 00:02:36,65 --> 00:02:42,65 behind the scenes those who prepare the Flyers make phone calls make sure that food 24 00:02:42,66 --> 00:02:46,50 is there secure spaces for people to come together and find 25 00:02:46,51 --> 00:02:50,46 a common cause So today I'm really privileged to be the person who gets to come in 26 00:02:50,47 --> 00:02:55,91 here and talk and so with that I want to thank all of the organizers all the 27 00:02:55,92 --> 00:03:01,66 leaders that have made this day happen but also especially Alina goot who was 28 00:03:01,67 --> 00:03:08,65 responsible. For. So. When we 29 00:03:08,66 --> 00:03:14,68 organize for our neighborhoods when we organize for our homes when you do it year 30 00:03:14,69 --> 00:03:19,69 after year a company is very very discouraging it fills like 31 00:03:19,70 --> 00:03:25,70 a sissified rock sometimes because you win that you win that campaign you stop that 32 00:03:25,71 --> 00:03:30,89 eviction than four years later that landlords back just like Freddy Krueger right 33 00:03:31,31 --> 00:03:36,47 say I'm going to come back Jason from Friday the thirteenth then I'm back and I'm 34 00:03:36,48 --> 00:03:40,47 going to take it this time right I'm going to take I'm going to take everything 35 00:03:40,48 --> 00:03:45,97 that I didn't take the last time and make an psychically it can be very damaging 36 00:03:46,29 --> 00:03:53,19 but what I want to start off with is the idea that every single last campaign that 37 00:03:53,20 --> 00:04:00,14 the Washington State tenants union takes on has an aspect that win or lose 38 00:04:00,15 --> 00:04:05,53 you've already won you've already won by stepping up and I don't mean that in 39 00:04:05,54 --> 00:04:11,35 a you know you know just pat on the back it's OK it's good that you it's good that 40 00:04:11,36 --> 00:04:14,76 you tried it's always good that you try but I mean that you're telling 41 00:04:14,77 --> 00:04:21,25 a story over the past forty plus years in the United States 42 00:04:21,75 --> 00:04:28,05 we've had this thing called neo liberalism we've had this economic system this 43 00:04:28,06 --> 00:04:32,75 version of an echo of capitalism it's not anything it's like capitalism with the 44 00:04:32,87 --> 00:04:39,16 happy made mass taken off right but had this this version of capitalism is very 45 00:04:39,17 --> 00:04:45,27 distinctly different from the strategy that. Came before it told 46 00:04:45,31 --> 00:04:51,60 a story that there are expendable human beings right neo 47 00:04:51,61 --> 00:04:55,60 liberalism. The system that we live in now tells 48 00:04:55,61 --> 00:05:00,52 a story that some people in our cities some people in our neighborhoods are 49 00:05:00,53 --> 00:05:03,50 expendable and it has 50 00:05:03,51 --> 00:05:08,45 a project of turning out all that animosity that was going upwards that was going 51 00:05:08,46 --> 00:05:12,43 towards powerful people making bad decisions that were hurting other people that 52 00:05:12,44 --> 00:05:17,80 were starting wars and then turning it towards the homeless person right so in the 53 00:05:17,81 --> 00:05:21,60 sixty's the seventy's we had all these wonderful movements I mean they had their 54 00:05:21,61 --> 00:05:26,69 problems certainly they had their contradictions sometimes they were they were too 55 00:05:26,70 --> 00:05:29,71 ideological sometimes they weren't ideological enough but they were 56 00:05:29,72 --> 00:05:34,92 a human being standing up and say we are human beings we are proud human beings My 57 00:05:34,93 --> 00:05:38,21 neighbor means something to me my neighbor is also 58 00:05:38,22 --> 00:05:45,21 a human being and when you as you saw. As you as one of the most beautiful moments 59 00:05:45,22 --> 00:05:49,52 that was so short lived that I talked about of my last book when the Black Panther 60 00:05:49,53 --> 00:05:55,52 Party the Young Lords and the Appalachian poor white young patriot party came 61 00:05:55,53 --> 00:05:59,52 together and said we can work together right we could reach across the color line 62 00:05:59,53 --> 00:06:02,75 and say can we work together and there has been 63 00:06:02,76 --> 00:06:09,51 a forty five years of dismantling that story right of making us 64 00:06:09,52 --> 00:06:16,44 blame one another and this system counts on the silence of 65 00:06:16,45 --> 00:06:22,11 people it counts on the Silence A white people that says you know what you probably 66 00:06:22,12 --> 00:06:28,11 deserved to be killed or assaulted by the police it counts on the silence of people 67 00:06:28,12 --> 00:06:34,72 who live in private housing to be. To stand aside when public housing is demolished 68 00:06:34,76 --> 00:06:40,35 or this ridiculous step forward thing which is the step forward to oblivion plan as 69 00:06:40,36 --> 00:06:42,12 far as I'm concerned. 70 00:06:43,83 --> 00:06:50,33 Thank you it counts on those of us. Who are 71 00:06:50,34 --> 00:06:56,59 born in this country which used to be Indian land to look at people who are coming 72 00:06:56,60 --> 00:07:02,26 now and saying you're expendable we should kick you out even if you are fourteen so 73 00:07:02,94 --> 00:07:06,97 what you are doing every every single last one of your campaigns say you are 74 00:07:06,98 --> 00:07:09,26 building a new common sense 75 00:07:09,65 --> 00:07:13,69 a brand new humanism and it could go in many different ways I don't have 76 00:07:13,97 --> 00:07:17,88 a crystal ball right I don't know what type of system we're going to end up with in 77 00:07:17,89 --> 00:07:24,05 ten years we don't even know if we're going to have an Earth in twenty. But every 78 00:07:24,06 --> 00:07:30,85 single picket line that you walk together and have every single action even things 79 00:07:30,86 --> 00:07:34,90 that seem exist in significant like petition drives tells 80 00:07:34,91 --> 00:07:41,65 a new story about what we all mean to one another it puts put it 81 00:07:41,66 --> 00:07:48,09 puts dignity in the word fight and it makes terms like rainbow coalitions seem not 82 00:07:48,10 --> 00:07:52,69 so naive anymore right that we can actually get it together and turn things around 83 00:07:52,70 --> 00:07:56,55 in this country and we might not be able to but that's the type of movement that I 84 00:07:56,56 --> 00:07:56,95 want to be 85 00:07:56,96 --> 00:08:03,51 a part of in till we view the one or we've lost so I'm dedicating this talk to the 86 00:08:03,52 --> 00:08:08,29 memory of my good friend Ted Gullickson Ted who was the director of the San 87 00:08:08,31 --> 00:08:13,86 Francisco tenants union for many decades and he died last Tuesday. And I have 88 00:08:13,87 --> 00:08:17,93 a particular memory of Ted that is relevant to what I want to share with you today 89 00:08:18,39 --> 00:08:21,94 I first met him in one nine hundred ninety one one thousand nine hundred two on 90 00:08:21,95 --> 00:08:27,47 a street corner in San Francisco's Mission District I was in my early twenty's then 91 00:08:27,74 --> 00:08:33,91 and wanted to unload all of my radical ideas on this veteran of of the housing 92 00:08:33,92 --> 00:08:38,39 struggle as if he had never heard them before right as if they had just come 93 00:08:38,40 --> 00:08:44,37 because I had read. Karl Marx our I had read and our kids the more I was starting 94 00:08:44,38 --> 00:08:50,50 to learn about feminism from my sisters in the struggle and of course I had 95 00:08:50,51 --> 00:08:55,64 wonderful ideas and he very patiently looked at me probably shook his head and said 96 00:08:55,65 --> 00:09:00,91 if you ever expect to win anything never forget that all politics start on the 97 00:09:00,92 --> 00:09:05,25 street corner I hung out with him on the street corner watching him as he held down 98 00:09:05,26 --> 00:09:11,07 conversations about tenants rights with anyone grandmothers teenagers drunks 99 00:09:11,23 --> 00:09:16,92 yuppies and even the odd landlord he earned the right to agitate people to ask them 100 00:09:16,93 --> 00:09:23,11 to do something that they weren't planning on doing by listening so as we fluctuate 101 00:09:23,12 --> 00:09:27,81 between really big ideas and full philosophical ideas of what we are and concrete 102 00:09:27,82 --> 00:09:33,58 ideas about what we can do in the here and now I want you to know that all of the 103 00:09:33,59 --> 00:09:39,20 alternatives all of our futures are basic exactly what we're doing they start in 104 00:09:39,21 --> 00:09:44,43 laundromats the start with the conversations that you have as leaders in organizers 105 00:09:44,48 --> 00:09:49,93 on street corners I think door knocking should be a sacrament knocking on 106 00:09:49,94 --> 00:09:56,84 a stranger's door and saying Will you join us should. Should should be 107 00:09:56,84 --> 00:10:02,57 a second is one of those honored things that anybody could do and we should also 108 00:10:02,58 --> 00:10:07,99 know that when you step out and you fight for housing and you fight for land you're 109 00:10:07,100 --> 00:10:08,77 part of such 110 00:10:08,82 --> 00:10:13,76 a long tradition. One of the one of the hidden aspects of the civil rights movement 111 00:10:13,77 --> 00:10:18,71 was Martin Luther King's housing campaigns the desegregation campaigns and the 112 00:10:18,72 --> 00:10:24,63 movements of inspired around anti-Red redlining certainly the struggle for lead 113 00:10:24,83 --> 00:10:29,85 this country goes back to the first Congress and congratulations to the Seattle 114 00:10:29,89 --> 00:10:35,41 City Council for getting rid of Columbus Day. And we see. 115 00:10:37,90 --> 00:10:42,92 If we see new expressions expressions that we see the Idle No More movement and we 116 00:10:42,93 --> 00:10:47,53 saw the very best some of the very best people I think they're bad people but some 117 00:10:47,54 --> 00:10:52,48 of the smartest most savvy people from the Occupy movement actually turn their 118 00:10:52,49 --> 00:10:57,25 energies towards defending neighborhoods right taking that energy taking that one 119 00:10:57,45 --> 00:11:04,03 of those wonderful wonderful ideas. That were spawn that caught again shifting that 120 00:11:04,04 --> 00:11:10,90 cost that conversation from go away away from having our anger at our 121 00:11:11,22 --> 00:11:16,18 ourselves and our neighbors in towards the One Percent and said OK now I'm going to 122 00:11:16,19 --> 00:11:20,77 actually get to know my neighbors and I know that here here and in Seattle there's 123 00:11:20,78 --> 00:11:24,82 another great organization that was actually even doing some of that before the 124 00:11:24,83 --> 00:11:31,82 Seattle solidarity network that I'm also quite quite inspired by so why 125 00:11:31,83 --> 00:11:34,03 in every major city is displacement even 126 00:11:34,04 --> 00:11:39,01 a thing anymore it doesn't make any sense it doesn't even make much sense in the 127 00:11:39,02 --> 00:11:45,57 long term cat cap was the vision one of the main reasons is that. We've 128 00:11:45,58 --> 00:11:46,13 shifted to 129 00:11:46,14 --> 00:11:51,96 a primarily service space based economy so cities have to continually reinvent 130 00:11:51,97 --> 00:11:57,57 themselves over and over again just to keep the lights on right just to keep the 131 00:11:57,58 --> 00:12:02,82 tax rate just to make sure that the water mains get get repaid repaired because 132 00:12:02,83 --> 00:12:07,82 there is no true grassroots economic development in almost any city and will 133 00:12:07,83 --> 00:12:11,51 actually talk about one of the later that's actually starting to take 134 00:12:11,52 --> 00:12:14,06 a few steps that way in 135 00:12:14,33 --> 00:12:19,96 a very surprising surprising part so this means that pretend that every single last 136 00:12:19,97 --> 00:12:25,04 member of the board or your city council rather keep using the term Board of 137 00:12:25,05 --> 00:12:31,38 Supervisors at San Francisco term completely agreed with the tenants union were 138 00:12:31,42 --> 00:12:35,62 maybe former members supporters and everything they would still have 139 00:12:35,63 --> 00:12:40,66 a hard time saying no to some of the neighborhood destroying projects because truly 140 00:12:40,78 --> 00:12:44,71 we've gotten to the point where we haven't built any Torm of alternative economic. 141 00:12:45,97 --> 00:12:50,25 Economic base for communities so the only thing that we see is like let's tear it 142 00:12:50,26 --> 00:12:53,68 down and rebuild it right all that's put this thing in the middle of your neighbor 143 00:12:53,69 --> 00:12:58,39 that we know is going to generate gentrification we know it's going to generate 144 00:12:58,49 --> 00:13:05,08 displacement because just like the movie Sophie's Choice where. A Holocaust 145 00:13:05,09 --> 00:13:11,05 survivor was had to had to choose between which kid to send to the guest two to the 146 00:13:11,06 --> 00:13:17,28 gas chambers cities or as you want housing or jobs do you want housing or drugs you 147 00:13:17,30 --> 00:13:23,09 want community safety or do you want Community Preservation and these are false 148 00:13:23,13 --> 00:13:30,11 choices we can actually build cities cities from from below. And like you 149 00:13:30,12 --> 00:13:34,78 mentioned earlier you know naming the strategy I don't call it 150 00:13:34,79 --> 00:13:39,98 a system but the strategy and of neoliberalism Omas every single last city in the 151 00:13:39,99 --> 00:13:46,01 United States whether you're the shrinking Detroit or their growing 152 00:13:46,38 --> 00:13:53,30 Seattle head has this remarkable shrinkage of regulations of 153 00:13:53,31 --> 00:13:59,95 austerity and you know it privatizations of of the of the commons and these are the 154 00:13:59,96 --> 00:14:04,88 things that set that set the stage for the displacement that we're all fighting 155 00:14:04,89 --> 00:14:11,34 against. And I should also say that you know 156 00:14:12,09 --> 00:14:17,07 you know oftentimes as Rich seems rhetorical to say that all issues are linked but 157 00:14:17,08 --> 00:14:20,08 all of this displacement all this redevelopment takes in 158 00:14:20,09 --> 00:14:26,36 a massive amount of surveillance and control so when when police murder 159 00:14:26,54 --> 00:14:28,91 happens in in 160 00:14:28,92 --> 00:14:33,81 a predominantly African-American community brown community and often times goes 161 00:14:33,82 --> 00:14:39,89 along the spectrum of gentrification and of and of displacement as we saw in San 162 00:14:39,90 --> 00:14:41,04 Francisco just a few 163 00:14:41,23 --> 00:14:46,88 a few months ago or Alex yet though was murdered in his in his neighborhood by 164 00:14:46,89 --> 00:14:51,76 police who thought that he had a gun it was actually a taser and he was a. He was 165 00:14:51,77 --> 00:14:55,10 a security guard who was on his way to work who got into a little bit of 166 00:14:55,11 --> 00:14:55,88 a disagreement with 167 00:14:55,89 --> 00:15:00,58 a yuppie who called to call the cops on him and it cost him his life and it cost 168 00:15:00,59 --> 00:15:05,45 him his life but as the great James Baldwin said one of my favorite authors of all 169 00:15:05,46 --> 00:15:09,44 time if they come for you in the morning they're going to be back for me at night. 170 00:15:10,18 --> 00:15:13,49 Right if they come for you in the morning they're going to be back for me at night 171 00:15:13,98 --> 00:15:18,32 and it's that early evening now right so even though some of us would have thought 172 00:15:18,33 --> 00:15:24,100 OK you know this issue may or may not of impact me that's OK it's coming for you 173 00:15:25,26 --> 00:15:30,04 right in San Francisco we have teachers they can't even afford to be part of their 174 00:15:31,03 --> 00:15:36,84 part of the communities that they serve so what do we do about it because yes 175 00:15:36,88 --> 00:15:40,84 that's the most important part right it's one thing to reckon recognize the problem 176 00:15:40,85 --> 00:15:45,72 so it's one thing to build our vocabularies but what do we do about it so let's 177 00:15:45,73 --> 00:15:48,87 talk about some philosophical choices we can make and then we'll talk about some 178 00:15:48,88 --> 00:15:55,16 program attic choices we can make one is just embrace the right to the city. The 179 00:15:55,17 --> 00:16:00,17 rights of the city you know its roots come in some fancy fancy French philosopher 180 00:16:00,51 --> 00:16:05,62 of unreal if ever and you know it was popularized by people like my friend harmony 181 00:16:05,63 --> 00:16:11,67 Goldberg editor Mark who's had this idea that people who make this city grow 182 00:16:11,71 --> 00:16:16,88 through their labor right through their work through their participation have the 183 00:16:16,89 --> 00:16:21,99 right to live here right and right have the have the right to not only live here 184 00:16:22,07 --> 00:16:24,20 but have but participate in it to have 185 00:16:24,21 --> 00:16:30,18 a democratic voice however that six press in your city and actually have control 186 00:16:30,46 --> 00:16:34,86 right actually have some autonomy actually have some community collective 187 00:16:34,87 --> 00:16:41,41 self-determination over their city and when I say work you know that you earn this 188 00:16:41,42 --> 00:16:45,15 right to the city for your work I mean that any time that you produce 189 00:16:45,16 --> 00:16:50,24 a value for yourself or another human being you're working and value isn't just 190 00:16:50,48 --> 00:16:52,61 money right although that's certainly 191 00:16:52,62 --> 00:16:58,15 a big major part of it value is babysitting for your kid babysitting for somebody 192 00:16:58,16 --> 00:17:03,71 else's kid. Value is what you know is watching out for the watching out for your 193 00:17:03,72 --> 00:17:08,08 neighbors right for your elderly neighbors because one of the things that 194 00:17:08,09 --> 00:17:15,07 displacement really goes after is survival networks the way that people simply get 195 00:17:15,08 --> 00:17:19,49 every day ways that people survive every day by helping each other out through 196 00:17:19,50 --> 00:17:26,47 mutual aid now in certain forms of organizing We think that survival 197 00:17:26,48 --> 00:17:31,78 networks and no big deal right we have the correct ideas right we have the correct 198 00:17:31,79 --> 00:17:33,32 line we have 199 00:17:33,60 --> 00:17:39,86 a you know you know we have things work out we have our policies worked out. You 200 00:17:39,87 --> 00:17:44,60 know but that's that's that's really no not what not what we're talking about we're 201 00:17:44,61 --> 00:17:50,06 talking about looking at the ways that people survive that's positive in the here 202 00:17:50,07 --> 00:17:56,38 and now and recognizing radicalizing them respecting them helping people take the 203 00:17:56,39 --> 00:18:01,91 next step towards action but always remember always remembering that this fight for 204 00:18:01,92 --> 00:18:06,81 the rights of the city is actually rooted in the strengths that are already there 205 00:18:06,82 --> 00:18:10,85 sometimes right next to the nightmares right right next to the worst of 206 00:18:10,86 --> 00:18:16,00 a city or neighborhood have is also is the is the rose growing out of the concrete 207 00:18:16,21 --> 00:18:22,50 the great political philosopher parks occur to talk about the next 208 00:18:22,84 --> 00:18:25,02 shift that we can make is is housing is 209 00:18:25,03 --> 00:18:29,26 a human right which I think everybody in this room has already made that shift to 210 00:18:29,27 --> 00:18:31,98 we all believe in in the idea that housing is 211 00:18:31,99 --> 00:18:36,69 a human right thank you. 212 00:18:39,28 --> 00:18:44,14 As we know you know most you know most city councils at least on the West Coast 213 00:18:44,15 --> 00:18:45,69 would pass resolutions in 214 00:18:45,70 --> 00:18:50,11 a minute saying that we believe that housing is human right every human being 215 00:18:50,12 --> 00:18:54,23 should have one as long as they don't have to pay for it as long as they don't have 216 00:18:54,24 --> 00:18:59,02 to challenge the privilege of developers to do what they wish right they would 217 00:18:59,03 --> 00:19:02,71 probably vote to give all the land back to the Indians as long as they don't 218 00:19:02,72 --> 00:19:06,73 actually have to do it right because in liberal cities like like seven Cisco in 219 00:19:06,74 --> 00:19:13,15 Seattle they like non-binding resolutions but when we fight for housing as 220 00:19:13,17 --> 00:19:18,27 a human right we also speak against those exceptions that people push and oh 221 00:19:18,28 --> 00:19:21,68 somebody doesn't deserve housing because they didn't work hard enough they have too 222 00:19:21,70 --> 00:19:28,57 many kids they were born on the wrong side of the border and. Finally we 223 00:19:28,58 --> 00:19:34,05 have to decide what alternative urbanism looks like now I made sure that I didn't 224 00:19:34,06 --> 00:19:39,51 get too prescriptive because. I want to I want to people to take some ideas and be 225 00:19:39,52 --> 00:19:44,63 able to create their own ideas their own programs own action programs not saying 226 00:19:45,00 --> 00:19:50,55 you know I'm not saw Linsky or anything like that. I don't do checklists I don't do 227 00:19:50,56 --> 00:19:54,71 ten rules here you know here's what you should should do so much of respect I had 228 00:19:54,72 --> 00:20:00,73 for that guy but I want to have some frameworks you guys fill in the blanks so 229 00:20:00,74 --> 00:20:05,75 here's here's what alternative urbanism some of the tenets of it it could be it 230 00:20:05,76 --> 00:20:09,35 reduces the cost of urban living by removing key areas 231 00:20:09,36 --> 00:20:14,04 a social consumption from the marketplace right so social consumption things that 232 00:20:14,05 --> 00:20:20,75 we all need to consume to survive transportation schools housing the more we take 233 00:20:20,95 --> 00:20:24,89 the more that we that we take these things out of the marketplace and into the 234 00:20:24,90 --> 00:20:28,93 Commons it means that we all have more time to actually get to know our neighbors 235 00:20:29,07 --> 00:20:34,75 right we have more security more more political power because we're not working 236 00:20:34,76 --> 00:20:35,93 sixty or seventy hours 237 00:20:35,94 --> 00:20:41,52 a week right they have more security expand in redefining the Commons production 238 00:20:41,58 --> 00:20:47,31 and ownership for public use over private profit I think that's pretty pretty 239 00:20:47,32 --> 00:20:52,91 self-explanatory recognize the city even in its most to still be and form as having 240 00:20:52,92 --> 00:20:57,56 the potential to generate new forms of equity modes of production and political 241 00:20:57,57 --> 00:21:03,61 participation create opportunities for people to experiment with new social norms 242 00:21:03,78 --> 00:21:10,44 with mutual aid and social solidarity replacing axis of competition and greed. And 243 00:21:10,45 --> 00:21:14,99 it tempted Bill popular power and excluded communities as opposed to simply 244 00:21:15,14 --> 00:21:19,82 building superior ways of providing social resources in the capital context so 245 00:21:19,83 --> 00:21:23,36 those are some ideas I'm going to throw out you guys figure out whether they make 246 00:21:23,37 --> 00:21:29,45 sense to your community or not develop your you know you use them apply them to 247 00:21:29,46 --> 00:21:34,40 your own campaigns that are also that are already quiet. Quite beautiful and quite 248 00:21:34,56 --> 00:21:41,11 quite moving and I would add and it's not in the book that I think that we should 249 00:21:41,12 --> 00:21:48,04 actually talk about housing reparations right. Thank you that would not be 250 00:21:48,05 --> 00:21:52,98 purely racial although But it would be very very racial in many many it many 251 00:21:52,99 --> 00:21:57,39 aspects we see and I believe this happened in Seattle although I haven't been able 252 00:21:57,40 --> 00:22:01,47 to research it but the urban renewal of the one nine hundred sixty S. 253 00:22:01,48 --> 00:22:07,89 Or seventy's decimated the African-American community in. San Francisco it 254 00:22:07,90 --> 00:22:09,19 decimated completely 255 00:22:09,20 --> 00:22:15,63 a race Manila town off the map and in the type of system that we live now land 256 00:22:15,64 --> 00:22:20,95 tenure homeownership things like that are the way that some families you know 257 00:22:20,96 --> 00:22:26,22 improve their economic status over time so that's been taken away it needs to be 258 00:22:26,23 --> 00:22:31,43 repaired right communities need to be repaired what that looks like I have 259 00:22:31,44 --> 00:22:36,52 absolutely no idea but I don't think that we can operate under racialize cap 260 00:22:36,56 --> 00:22:40,31 capitalism without reckoning with the past because the past influences what we see 261 00:22:40,52 --> 00:22:46,84 see now and that does not mean that you know that means making the system pay for 262 00:22:46,85 --> 00:22:49,36 what it did that doesn't mean why people writing 263 00:22:49,37 --> 00:22:54,30 a check in the or anything like that that means making doing the being a part of 264 00:22:54,31 --> 00:22:58,39 a political movement to make more for all of us right to make for more for every 265 00:22:58,40 --> 00:23:00,67 color of the rainbow but not turning 266 00:23:00,68 --> 00:23:06,67 a blind eye to what's what's what's happened happened happened before so I'm almost 267 00:23:06,68 --> 00:23:13,67 done here. In San Francisco first of all nobody should take anything that I've said 268 00:23:13,67 --> 00:23:20,50 . As gospel interrogated I've dedicated over twenty something years of my life 269 00:23:20,51 --> 00:23:26,06 to the housing and in the city that's and the end result has been we are the most 270 00:23:26,07 --> 00:23:30,87 expensive city in the United States right so by all means you know the movement 271 00:23:30,88 --> 00:23:31,19 that I've been 272 00:23:31,20 --> 00:23:35,51 a part of his largely failed right we've largely failed in the reason why I wanted 273 00:23:35,52 --> 00:23:39,22 to take some of my organizers Nope no books and turn him into 274 00:23:39,23 --> 00:23:43,93 a book and so it could be useful so people picking up the torch now could learn 275 00:23:43,94 --> 00:23:48,85 from our mistakes and our victories one of our most beautiful victories that we've 276 00:23:48,86 --> 00:23:54,83 had has been the growth of the Community Land Trust movement. In San Francisco one 277 00:23:54,84 --> 00:23:59,83 of the proud co-founders I think the only co-founder that's still dumb enough to be 278 00:23:59,84 --> 00:24:05,21 on the board I go to all these meetings. Over again but I'm really proud to be part 279 00:24:05,22 --> 00:24:11,45 of the community. You know we started we started off in two thousand and four took 280 00:24:11,46 --> 00:24:14,51 us at least five years to have our first victory but there's 281 00:24:14,52 --> 00:24:18,20 a building in Chinatown all working class immigrant families and 282 00:24:18,21 --> 00:24:23,98 a few seniors who are who actually were successful in not only defeating the 283 00:24:23,99 --> 00:24:28,31 eviction that was both city college trying to demolish it and the private developer 284 00:24:28,32 --> 00:24:32,34 trying to buy the rights to demolish it from the city City College it was 285 00:24:32,35 --> 00:24:36,79 a very long battle and the communal interest working with Asian law caucus the 286 00:24:36,80 --> 00:24:41,38 tennis them selves and China Town Community Development Center we helped defeat 287 00:24:41,39 --> 00:24:42,79 that eviction and we turned it into 288 00:24:42,80 --> 00:24:47,77 a cooperative right that's actually owned and run by the people there and it's hard 289 00:24:47,85 --> 00:24:52,62 right I certainly believe in the in the politics of self management of autonomy and 290 00:24:52,63 --> 00:24:56,57 self management those things are hard because people don't learn bad habits the 291 00:24:56,58 --> 00:25:02,76 ways that we're we're conditioned but it's working and it's growing and until we 292 00:25:02,77 --> 00:25:06,60 get to the point where the lot of these good ideas are actually becoming kind of 293 00:25:06,61 --> 00:25:11,58 the I you know the Vanguard so to speak of our housing movement I think we're going 294 00:25:11,59 --> 00:25:16,63 to completely you know have to really you know rebuild the wheel every five years 295 00:25:16,72 --> 00:25:22,01 what's one will be undone and what's one I want to see it is the good and the 296 00:25:22,02 --> 00:25:22,42 threat of 297 00:25:22,43 --> 00:25:28,48 a good example the fifty five Columbus in San Francisco there are people who no 298 00:25:28,56 --> 00:25:34,51 longer live in threat of of fiction and that's forever right they cooperate on 299 00:25:34,52 --> 00:25:38,90 their building it's permanently affordable no one can speculate it no one can get 300 00:25:38,91 --> 00:25:43,54 greedy it's an improvement over some of the really value and cooperative ideas that 301 00:25:43,55 --> 00:25:45,01 were done in the one nine hundred thirty S. 302 00:25:46,01 --> 00:25:52,23 But I think we can win I don't think. I think I think we can win. And we're going 303 00:25:52,24 --> 00:25:57,87 to lose we're going to we're we're going to lose we're going to lose campaigns. You 304 00:25:57,88 --> 00:26:02,11 know we're going to see neighbors leave and that's part that's that's part of the 305 00:26:02,12 --> 00:26:07,53 path right but in every movement that happens in the housing movement in the 306 00:26:07,54 --> 00:26:13,13 Movement for the right to the city I think we can win because cities like yours it 307 00:26:13,22 --> 00:26:18,72 can be social justice laboratories we know that on the on the on the national level 308 00:26:18,73 --> 00:26:22,22 we don't have to have the strength to influence public policy on 309 00:26:22,23 --> 00:26:27,88 a national level right now we don't have that. You know some some people certainly 310 00:26:27,98 --> 00:26:30,88 when compared to the alternative of George Bush had 311 00:26:30,89 --> 00:26:36,66 a lot of hope for. A lot of hope for Obama that maybe some things would be pushed 312 00:26:36,67 --> 00:26:41,86 back well we see that we only have ourselves to rely on we don't have Democrats we 313 00:26:41,87 --> 00:26:46,54 don't have Republicans. As much as I'd love to see the Green Party get up and 314 00:26:46,55 --> 00:26:50,92 running again we don't have green party and in fact effective fighting mode but we 315 00:26:50,93 --> 00:26:55,05 have each other we have we have our direct action we have our community campaigns 316 00:26:55,28 --> 00:26:59,98 but we have our cities where we can try things out so I'm going to end with 317 00:26:59,99 --> 00:27:06,23 a short passage from the book cities simultaneously an effort really effortlessly 318 00:27:06,24 --> 00:27:11,30 embrace both utopian and just open potentials most of them were born from human 319 00:27:11,31 --> 00:27:14,38 caused ecological disasters the clear cutting 320 00:27:14,39 --> 00:27:19,03 a forest the paving of rivers and creeks but today the solutions to climate change 321 00:27:19,35 --> 00:27:24,93 are in part urban density can prevent sprawl and robust plan public transportation 322 00:27:24,95 --> 00:27:29,96 is the best way to cleave drivers from private automobiles. Through zoning and red 323 00:27:29,97 --> 00:27:35,04 lining the political economy has always been shaped by racism and white supremacy 324 00:27:35,44 --> 00:27:40,68 but it's also in cities were oppressed people most often find each other demand 325 00:27:40,69 --> 00:27:47,18 self-determination and forge coalition dour alienated architecture argues with 326 00:27:47,19 --> 00:27:52,94 vibrant design cities offer of the most the worst the popular culture can conjure 327 00:27:52,95 --> 00:27:58,91 up then give birth to beautiful rebel music like jazz hip hop and punk which in 328 00:27:58,92 --> 00:28:04,02 turn become the mass culture of another person's decade displacement replaces all 329 00:28:04,03 --> 00:28:10,41 of this radical potential with spectacle it is the change that kills off all other 330 00:28:10,55 --> 00:28:16,83 positive changes but in the end. Even though capital in displacement 331 00:28:17,24 --> 00:28:24,14 shapes our cities so too can resistance thank you very much thank you and I always 332 00:28:24,15 --> 00:28:29,85 hear people saying that San Francisco and Seattle are experiencing really similar 333 00:28:29,86 --> 00:28:35,80 housing crises and I'm wondering if that is something people say is it true and 334 00:28:35,81 --> 00:28:40,24 what did what did the two cities have in common. 335 00:28:42,66 --> 00:28:47,07 Thank you yeah I mean obviously you know San Francisco and Seattle are very very 336 00:28:47,08 --> 00:28:52,43 similar in many it you know in many ways but the main one is that you know we both 337 00:28:52,44 --> 00:28:58,39 have our economic inequality is largely not only largely driven by the by the tech 338 00:28:58,40 --> 00:29:03,25 industry and the tech industry. You know when you think about 339 00:29:03,26 --> 00:29:05,46 a lot if we were living in a more you know 340 00:29:05,47 --> 00:29:10,77 a more humane system take industry should be the the the factories of today where 341 00:29:10,78 --> 00:29:14,31 anybody I remember a friend of a friend of mine who comes from 342 00:29:14,32 --> 00:29:17,73 a very working class background he's actually in the book he became 343 00:29:17,74 --> 00:29:21,39 a tech worker by reading go back before you could download 344 00:29:21,40 --> 00:29:24,48 a whole manuals and coding you know he was writing for 345 00:29:24,49 --> 00:29:29,68 a band and reading reading tech manuals and he taught himself how to use computers 346 00:29:29,69 --> 00:29:33,22 right anybody who has a willingness to work and willingness to learn 347 00:29:33,23 --> 00:29:38,29 a few new skills should be able to take advantage of it but it's you know early in 348 00:29:38,30 --> 00:29:42,61 San Francisco the tech industry even intervals is ninety six percent white right 349 00:29:43,30 --> 00:29:48,37 ninety six percent right that's the most could be the most Jim Crow industry that 350 00:29:48,38 --> 00:29:51,29 we have a problem is America says there's probably 351 00:29:51,30 --> 00:29:55,88 a worse one out there somewhere but ninety six percent white ninety six percent 352 00:29:55,89 --> 00:30:00,66 people that already came from from middle class backgrounds so economic economic 353 00:30:00,67 --> 00:30:05,81 inequality certainly is what holds Sanford San Francisco and Seattle together 354 00:30:05,82 --> 00:30:06,56 because when you have 355 00:30:06,57 --> 00:30:11,97 a relatively small amount of people right being able to work the entire market 356 00:30:12,35 --> 00:30:18,79 right and great waves of speculation and reinventing the city just prevent right 357 00:30:18,80 --> 00:30:25,50 just for the small small group that second economic aid that's. That's 358 00:30:25,51 --> 00:30:31,22 economic inequality which. You know definitely joins joins both cities. 359 00:30:38,34 --> 00:30:43,59 So the service is good communal entrance has what we have to to anniversaries one 360 00:30:43,60 --> 00:30:47,62 was of November nine hundred ninety nine when a bunch of us stormed out of 361 00:30:47,63 --> 00:30:52,35 a mission and I displacement Coalition meeting and we weren't happy with the 362 00:30:52,36 --> 00:30:56,72 solutions that were being proposed by our Congress by our dear friends because we 363 00:30:56,73 --> 00:31:01,09 really felt like community ownership not just affordable housing as viable as it is 364 00:31:01,10 --> 00:31:06,17 and not just rent control that we wanted the community. A community ownership 365 00:31:06,18 --> 00:31:07,79 strategy so we went to 366 00:31:07,80 --> 00:31:11,25 a bar I think it was like December one thousand nine hundred nine and got really 367 00:31:11,26 --> 00:31:12,30 drunk and decided make 368 00:31:12,31 --> 00:31:17,36 a land trust so good things and ironically the social Houser that I work for now 369 00:31:17,37 --> 00:31:20,85 also came out of another bar so sometimes drinking is 370 00:31:20,86 --> 00:31:27,60 a good thing. But we also have butted it into so in two 371 00:31:27,61 --> 00:31:32,08 thousand and four in two thousand and four the Land Trust officially incorporated 372 00:31:32,09 --> 00:31:32,60 it became 373 00:31:32,61 --> 00:31:45,52 a legal entity that had had the legal right to to own land and. Absolutely 374 00:31:46,46 --> 00:31:53,09 yet every single last last city. Even I even got an e-mail today from Flagstaff 375 00:31:53,10 --> 00:31:53,73 which isn't really 376 00:31:53,74 --> 00:31:58,82 a city right it's somewhere it's somewhere between town and city right it's not 377 00:31:58,83 --> 00:32:03,66 where you think of like an urban area that's going to. That's going to suffer this 378 00:32:03,67 --> 00:32:08,26 very quickly but even Flagstaff that we have going on because of people coming 379 00:32:08,30 --> 00:32:12,64 coming in for the tourists who want to take advantage of that it's happening where 380 00:32:12,64 --> 00:32:12,64 . 381 00:32:30,27 --> 00:32:35,68 You know. They're home. 382 00:32:41,90 --> 00:32:44,63 Right. So. 383 00:32:58,94 --> 00:33:01,69 To play I'll try to be really brief on that one as it's a it's 384 00:33:01,70 --> 00:33:07,25 a political stroke so the for the first volley that we had we found money that was 385 00:33:07,34 --> 00:33:11,44 left over of the city's seismic stabilization fund the building was was likely to 386 00:33:11,45 --> 00:33:13,59 fall down during the earthquake and we did 387 00:33:13,60 --> 00:33:16,67 a campaign and we got the money the city just rolled out 388 00:33:16,68 --> 00:33:22,55 a small sites acquisition fund that could basically do you know prior small size 389 00:33:22,56 --> 00:33:27,15 that are in jeopardy of displacement and take it off the spec of the market but 390 00:33:27,16 --> 00:33:30,42 that wasn't because the city halls or woke up and said we want to do something nice 391 00:33:30,43 --> 00:33:34,17 for people it was because there was political struggle there was campaigns. 392 00:33:35,44 --> 00:33:37,70 Campaigns to to focus on that and it was 393 00:33:37,71 --> 00:33:43,17 a victory and. Luckily I can't go into the details because we just entered 394 00:33:43,18 --> 00:33:49,08 a purchase agreement for two buildings that were just last month were in jeopardy 395 00:33:48,67 --> 00:33:55,13 of of. All the tenants being displaced so it's an insider outsider Strat strategy 396 00:33:55,19 --> 00:33:59,15 but it could never be done without outside game because the land trust one and been 397 00:33:59,16 --> 00:34:00,15 able to walk up to 398 00:34:00,16 --> 00:34:05,95 a landlord and say hey do you want to sell us this building right you know if we 399 00:34:05,96 --> 00:34:10,63 hadn't already done done with our partners the campaign to win the small size 400 00:34:10,64 --> 00:34:16,89 acquisition fund and if really awesome groups like in free San Francisco were given 401 00:34:16,90 --> 00:34:23,19 these landlords absolute friggin hell going to their to their doorsteps and make 402 00:34:23,24 --> 00:34:28,43 and making them rescind the evictions making them back up to the point where when I 403 00:34:28,44 --> 00:34:31,15 get a I'll get rid of this and get rid of this at 404 00:34:31,16 --> 00:34:36,21 a discount rate so never think that it that five recent years certainly we need 405 00:34:36,22 --> 00:34:40,42 money and we need public investment to make these things happen but it is always 406 00:34:40,95 --> 00:34:46,18 outside inside game we can never just become insiders and expect that even 407 00:34:46,19 --> 00:34:48,21 a wonderful city council have no idea if you have 408 00:34:48,22 --> 00:34:55,20 a good one or not is. You know it would do these things for us without you know 409 00:34:55,21 --> 00:35:00,78 without the constant pushing the constant demand of what Chris is all that. 410 00:35:05,69 --> 00:35:11,36 He saw. On the last 411 00:35:12,29 --> 00:35:17,55 little. Right. 412 00:35:19,53 --> 00:35:19,90 To say. 413 00:35:29,82 --> 00:35:36,32 This all this last. Week. 414 00:35:50,92 --> 00:35:55,28 Or so first I think that every We're going to is or should read Alinsky just 415 00:35:55,29 --> 00:35:59,30 because it's been so foundational and influence everybody whether you are running 416 00:35:59,31 --> 00:36:03,89 from it or you think it's the best thing in the world you should read it because 417 00:36:03,90 --> 00:36:09,04 you know it was an appropriate model at the time in many ways right and Lindsay 418 00:36:09,05 --> 00:36:09,60 also had 419 00:36:09,61 --> 00:36:16,57 a very strong critique of authoritarian versions of of government now 420 00:36:18,14 --> 00:36:21,87 I think that when you're doing organizing the first whether you consider yourself 421 00:36:21,88 --> 00:36:22,09 to be 422 00:36:22,10 --> 00:36:27,11 a political radical whatever that means to you or whether you're considered to be 423 00:36:27,12 --> 00:36:29,10 going for reforms the first few steps 424 00:36:29,11 --> 00:36:33,48 a good organizing weather or basically the same you knock on doors you talk to 425 00:36:33,49 --> 00:36:39,00 people you find out what people want to write and you try to and you try to. 426 00:36:40,85 --> 00:36:45,96 You try to illustrate that people can unite and win no matter what so that's that 427 00:36:45,97 --> 00:36:51,92 that's that's uniform no matter what your ideology is. What's different is that 428 00:36:52,39 --> 00:36:55,94 a radical organizer you know certainly is going to be you know 429 00:36:55,95 --> 00:36:59,58 a good one at least is certainly going to be with you as you fight your landlord as 430 00:36:59,59 --> 00:37:03,81 you fight for this short term gains that help help you survive but the ACA actually 431 00:37:03,82 --> 00:37:07,30 talk about big about big questions right in 432 00:37:07,31 --> 00:37:12,35 a way that's asking questions as dialogical right this says Why do you think this 433 00:37:12,36 --> 00:37:13,44 is happening is 434 00:37:13,45 --> 00:37:18,75 a capitalism is it racism probably both as we see often times when I call I call 435 00:37:19,23 --> 00:37:19,92 sexism is 436 00:37:19,93 --> 00:37:23,94 a hidden Specter and that in the housing crisis we talk about the structures and 437 00:37:23,95 --> 00:37:30,43 those are in many organizations the structures that cause these things are you 438 00:37:30,67 --> 00:37:34,58 can't we can't have those come we can't have those conversations and that's that's 439 00:37:34,59 --> 00:37:38,88 bad because it means that we will put all this wonderful energy into winning stuff 440 00:37:38,95 --> 00:37:43,36 and probably could quite win but when it comes down to actually getting rid of the 441 00:37:43,37 --> 00:37:49,24 problem the Alinsky model stops stops quite short but then again there's all you 442 00:37:49,25 --> 00:37:55,02 know I mean the. What it what I think that Alinsky was trying to do was trying to 443 00:37:55,03 --> 00:37:59,93 challenge he actually chose two generations of leftists to become to try to become 444 00:37:59,94 --> 00:38:06,70 relevant right listen to what actual people want listen listen listen to how 445 00:38:06,71 --> 00:38:10,93 people describe the conditions of living and listen to their aspirations and I 446 00:38:10,94 --> 00:38:16,54 think that's part while a. Well while I completely disagree with 447 00:38:16,55 --> 00:38:20,84 a lot of the model of mainly not having to have that conversation in my book I even 448 00:38:20,85 --> 00:38:26,08 talk a little bit about how we organize the back of the arts in Chicago in 449 00:38:26,09 --> 00:38:30,52 a wonderful way and then turned out that many of the white people in that in that 450 00:38:30,53 --> 00:38:35,45 neighborhood turn around and use those skills to reinforce segregation so that's 451 00:38:35,46 --> 00:38:40,16 a part of the tradition you can just get rid of throw it in the trash but the part 452 00:38:40,17 --> 00:38:44,76 where he says you know don't get caught up in just you know your own ideologies so 453 00:38:44,77 --> 00:38:49,54 much that you can't listen to human beings and assess things I think that's quite 454 00:38:49,66 --> 00:38:50,27 quite valuable. 455 00:39:09,00 --> 00:39:14,18 Absolutely build this tenant tenants union one of the best things that you can do 456 00:39:15,24 --> 00:39:21,66 you know is build this show up whenever you can and recruit you know ask your 457 00:39:21,67 --> 00:39:28,53 friends you know if everybody in this room not tomorrow but over the over the over 458 00:39:28,54 --> 00:39:33,06 the coming year you recruited ten people imagine what 459 00:39:33,07 --> 00:39:37,47 a time you would have finding an appropriate space for next year right ten people 460 00:39:37,74 --> 00:39:41,89 in those the next year each one ten more people that means you could take you could 461 00:39:41,90 --> 00:39:47,38 take the summer off and not recruit anybody for two months right and. It really 462 00:39:47,39 --> 00:39:51,79 does it really does come down that you know your numbers do count for something. 463 00:40:02,29 --> 00:40:09,25 Yeah OK All right. So so Saul 464 00:40:09,26 --> 00:40:11,78 Alinsky was a guy who organizes the nine hundred thirty S. 465 00:40:11,79 --> 00:40:13,01 And forty's and he wrote 466 00:40:13,02 --> 00:40:17,53 a book called rules radical another one called Revolution for radicals that became 467 00:40:17,54 --> 00:40:23,77 the blueprint for many of their organizations following and he he emphasized the 468 00:40:24,25 --> 00:40:29,22 you know creative conflict as an OR as an organizing tool and had to you know ten 469 00:40:29,23 --> 00:40:35,53 rules you can. Find them all so the buses My dear friends addiction free San 470 00:40:35,54 --> 00:40:41,53 Francisco so that they were going to go and blockade the buses and I said What are 471 00:40:41,54 --> 00:40:47,07 you thinking you know. I thought that it was the stupidest idea that I had ever 472 00:40:47,08 --> 00:40:51,69 heard of coming from some of the smartest people that I had ever had the honor of 473 00:40:51,70 --> 00:40:56,47 working with. One is that it was indirect action right you know you don't know who 474 00:40:56,48 --> 00:41:00,62 was getting on the bus right you know if they were just you know making 475 00:41:00,66 --> 00:41:04,81 a working class wage or they're at the top you know top at the top of the chain I 476 00:41:04,82 --> 00:41:04,96 had 477 00:41:04,97 --> 00:41:11,03 a long list of reasons why it was bad right. And I was no go after you know go after 478 00:41:11,04 --> 00:41:15,67 the head of Google go after their boards you know things like that and they did it 479 00:41:15,98 --> 00:41:22,45 and I'm glad that they ignored me. What the VIX goes to show you that nobody is 480 00:41:22,46 --> 00:41:29,00 ever too much of an expert right because. These these bus blockades completely 481 00:41:29,01 --> 00:41:33,36 shifted the conversation around displacement it's ever school and nationally right 482 00:41:33,37 --> 00:41:39,33 just the fact that you even know about it right. It helps shift shift shift the 483 00:41:39,34 --> 00:41:42,66 conversation about what what are the impacts of tech 484 00:41:43,26 --> 00:41:48,73 a little wary of doing too much tech hating right because I remember 485 00:41:48,74 --> 00:41:52,77 a volunteer at the Coalition on Homelessness after the last tech bubble collapsed 486 00:41:53,10 --> 00:41:59,12 and finding fighting my first for the first client that came in looking for housing 487 00:41:59,33 --> 00:42:00,72 wanting you know who was 488 00:42:00,73 --> 00:42:04,19 a former tech worker who was living out of the really expensive S.U.V. 489 00:42:04,20 --> 00:42:09,33 So things go up and things go down and I would like to think that even tech workers 490 00:42:09,34 --> 00:42:13,57 have the potential to think like workers one day right it's not going to happen any 491 00:42:13,61 --> 00:42:18,61 any any any time soon for the majority of some you know some of them are quite you 492 00:42:18,62 --> 00:42:22,65 know have that potential and are willing to work but it's not it's not happening in 493 00:42:22,66 --> 00:42:28,21 mass so but it can you know complete it completely reframe the debate around the 494 00:42:28,22 --> 00:42:30,91 impacts of that I would have loved it if the debate would 495 00:42:30,92 --> 00:42:35,65 a little bit further around economic inequality because I believe that even if we 496 00:42:35,66 --> 00:42:40,33 didn't have the text this of the Microsoft and Seattle and just about every 497 00:42:40,64 --> 00:42:45,72 everybody with an app coming to San Francisco these days. We'd still have 498 00:42:46,13 --> 00:42:48,72 displacement we'd still have gentrification would find 499 00:42:49,16 --> 00:42:50,55 a different vehicle it might be 500 00:42:50,56 --> 00:42:56,91 a slower moving vehicle will still have. That and so. Just thinking and you know 501 00:42:56,92 --> 00:43:00,69 just thinking about this about the tech industry in tech workers but it had an 502 00:43:00,70 --> 00:43:05,90 enormous an enormous impact and you know up close on that thanks for giving me the 503 00:43:05,91 --> 00:43:11,89 segue you know one point that I'd like to make is that in the displacement in the 504 00:43:11,90 --> 00:43:18,23 fight against this laser we have so many distractions so many distractions 505 00:43:18,87 --> 00:43:22,29 is that the hipsters with their little funny things they do on their face with 506 00:43:22,30 --> 00:43:28,52 their mustaches and their proclivities for the good donuts right and we we can 507 00:43:28,53 --> 00:43:32,27 focus so much on this narrative that it's the hipsters it's the hipsters it's the 508 00:43:32,28 --> 00:43:35,02 hipsters and if you look at hipsters right this is 509 00:43:35,03 --> 00:43:38,03 a debate that goes back to the beatnik era right like 510 00:43:38,04 --> 00:43:44,78 a fifty sixty or sixty odd odd year debate Norman Mailer wrote about it and what it 511 00:43:44,79 --> 00:43:49,30 does is you know while many of these many of these individuals are quite annoying. 512 00:43:50,49 --> 00:43:54,37 But they're not the people calling the shots they're not the people that are 513 00:43:54,38 --> 00:43:58,10 signing the eviction order they're not the people that are financing your 514 00:43:58,11 --> 00:44:04,34 grandmother's addiction right they're not holding capital and I think that you know 515 00:44:04,40 --> 00:44:10,30 a far more potent model you know in this is might be heresy around hipsters and 516 00:44:10,31 --> 00:44:13,91 everything first always go after they go after the big guys leave those guys alone 517 00:44:13,98 --> 00:44:20,14 right but maybe we should organize them maybe we should organize the hipsters 518 00:44:20,36 --> 00:44:26,99 because and this sounds as if this sounds ridiculous think think back I don't think 519 00:44:26,100 --> 00:44:29,82 that you guys should do it right I think you guys sure were going to say your guy's 520 00:44:29,83 --> 00:44:33,24 ing right but maybe there's you know me you know maybe there's 521 00:44:33,25 --> 00:44:35,78 a space or race race traitors and maybe there's 522 00:44:35,79 --> 00:44:40,95 a space for class traitors to take up this work I've seen it happen before. In the 523 00:44:40,96 --> 00:44:43,97 one thousand nine hundred sixty is there is this group called the White Panther 524 00:44:43,98 --> 00:44:48,84 Party the White Panther Party looked and said all these you know there's all these 525 00:44:48,85 --> 00:44:52,68 a political hipsters there's all these hippies that aren't supporting black power 526 00:44:52,72 --> 00:44:57,79 that aren't supporting the the fight against their peers tuning in and dropping out 527 00:44:58,07 --> 00:44:58,98 and this is let's have 528 00:44:59,28 --> 00:45:04,67 a total assault on culture using the rock music that they want to listen to and 529 00:45:04,68 --> 00:45:10,34 bringing new ideas and bringing people. Bringing many people to 530 00:45:10,35 --> 00:45:15,31 a great brand new understanding maybe that's what maybe we should be cutting the 531 00:45:15,32 --> 00:45:16,64 other sides coalition down 532 00:45:16,65 --> 00:45:20,55 a little bit maybe we should be hacking and other sites coalition maybe we should 533 00:45:20,56 --> 00:45:24,61 think about reaching out to the trade trade unions because we always know that you 534 00:45:24,62 --> 00:45:28,27 know we go down to City Hall or development thing you know the Trades Unions are 535 00:45:28,28 --> 00:45:32,82 usually going to be not on your side in most cities maybe we should be thinking 536 00:45:32,83 --> 00:45:37,16 about what alternative development is so they can get that they can get their jobs 537 00:45:37,71 --> 00:45:40,44 through other means than destroying the neighborhoods that many of them come from. 538 00:45:41,65 --> 00:45:47,16 Those are just some ideas I know you have many things to talk about I hope that's 539 00:45:47,17 --> 00:45:54,07 all. Thank you. A friend of 540 00:45:54,08 --> 00:46:00,64 mine was in Japan and somebody came in and tried to buy your place. 541 00:46:02,19 --> 00:46:07,87 And then kick you out they have negotiate with the tenants and they have to pay 542 00:46:07,88 --> 00:46:14,87 their. You know. What is the prospect of that happening here 543 00:46:15,02 --> 00:46:21,12 so the prospect of any any anything positive positive happening on the national 544 00:46:21,13 --> 00:46:26,94 picture here in the United States or even on the local level all depends on 545 00:46:26,95 --> 00:46:32,00 organizing community organizing labor organizing and putting the rights of the city 546 00:46:32,01 --> 00:46:38,82 and the human rights front and center in in these campaigns. In. 547 00:46:39,88 --> 00:46:43,43 Most Western European countries. They have 548 00:46:43,44 --> 00:46:48,60 a much higher standard for housing housing preservation they're still 549 00:46:48,61 --> 00:46:53,33 gentrification they're still capital cities but generally there's much higher 550 00:46:53,34 --> 00:46:59,45 levels of relocation rights tenant rights and other forms of co-operative housing 551 00:46:59,46 --> 00:47:05,42 and social housing. And certainly in countries like Venezuela have 552 00:47:05,94 --> 00:47:11,32 a long long way over the past past ten years towards getting closer to housing is 553 00:47:11,33 --> 00:47:17,50 in direct directly investing in brand new affordable housing taking some of the 554 00:47:17,54 --> 00:47:24,05 country's oil oil profits also see in Eastern Europe the former communist countries 555 00:47:25,04 --> 00:47:31,83 where. There was privatized so quickly that you had over thirty thousand people 556 00:47:31,95 --> 00:47:33,42 displaced in just 557 00:47:33,43 --> 00:47:38,30 a short amount of time after they converge especially in countries like I've been 558 00:47:38,31 --> 00:47:44,93 to and in Hungary so nobody. At this point in history has elevated housing to an 559 00:47:44,94 --> 00:47:47,65 absolute human right but somewhere 560 00:47:47,66 --> 00:47:54,48 a lot farther farther along with us and so. You know. Even 561 00:47:54,49 --> 00:47:57,03 a little behind a few years ago there was 562 00:47:57,04 --> 00:47:59,67 a special report from the UN I actually had 563 00:47:59,68 --> 00:48:04,43 a special record holder who toured all of the United States talked to many 564 00:48:04,44 --> 00:48:10,99 different organizations and even the real estate. Industry and really. Really 565 00:48:11,00 --> 00:48:16,95 criticized the United States' approach to housing as approach as as opposed to you 566 00:48:16,96 --> 00:48:18,89 know most other industrial countries. 567 00:48:29,31 --> 00:48:35,61 Were. CONSIDERED. You know. People that 568 00:48:35,62 --> 00:48:42,57 a. Lot of people you know because prime crisis you know 569 00:48:43,01 --> 00:48:47,55 they're losing their houses. You know and that's all 570 00:48:47,56 --> 00:48:51,64 a big scam. You know capitalists actually have 571 00:48:51,65 --> 00:48:58,64 a culture right people into. Thinking 572 00:48:58,65 --> 00:49:05,01 that they're going to have. Crashed. The market and then they go 573 00:49:05,52 --> 00:49:12,22 back. So you ask. About we're you know workers stake in the 574 00:49:12,23 --> 00:49:18,11 economy whether that be at the workplace or you know in in people's housing 575 00:49:18,12 --> 00:49:23,24 situations and you know I think it's you know you're to preface I think it's really 576 00:49:23,25 --> 00:49:27,88 interesting that in the United States many great advocacy and organizing 577 00:49:27,89 --> 00:49:32,50 organizations are so split up and so siloed where they have organized one 578 00:49:32,51 --> 00:49:36,60 organization fights for people's rights on the job they're the one who fights for 579 00:49:36,61 --> 00:49:42,78 people's rights against landlords or for the human right of housing and you know 580 00:49:42,79 --> 00:49:47,89 really shows kind of almost silly amount of special specialisation that we have has 581 00:49:48,11 --> 00:49:53,16 as a movement I think getting to the point where we have put the idea of 582 00:49:53,17 --> 00:49:58,62 a human right of housing more central means that trade unions need to pick up the 583 00:49:58,63 --> 00:50:05,49 man mantle but also that workers need having sorry ten ten organizations also 584 00:50:05,50 --> 00:50:12,42 need to take the labor question very seriously you know if you know if. For 585 00:50:12,43 --> 00:50:17,55 no other reason is that it splits the other the other sides coalition I don't think 586 00:50:17,56 --> 00:50:21,10 any any carpenter in the world wants to build 587 00:50:21,47 --> 00:50:25,95 a building that they had their family could never afford to live in their 588 00:50:25,96 --> 00:50:30,52 communities could never afford to live in or would put gentrification and 589 00:50:30,53 --> 00:50:35,64 displacement pressures on the rest of the rest of the city or the surround 590 00:50:35,76 --> 00:50:40,82 surrounding neighborhood quite to the contrary think that you know most rank and 591 00:50:40,83 --> 00:50:46,10 file workers want to you know build socially useful buildings you know buildings 592 00:50:46,11 --> 00:50:51,63 where you know people who are like them who can who you know who reflect their 593 00:50:51,64 --> 00:50:57,51 communities can also also live and so it means backing up and not just for 594 00:50:57,75 --> 00:51:04,47 different organ organizations and trade unions to not just meet at city hall over 595 00:51:04,48 --> 00:51:06,77 fighting over some development but actually making 596 00:51:07,00 --> 00:51:12,57 a long term plan for all. For alternative. Alternative development. 597 00:51:14,50 --> 00:51:20,27 In cities that puts people's needs first before the profit of the profit motive. 598 00:51:21,70 --> 00:51:28,63 You see that in Cleveland Ohio Cleveland Ohio was an amazing example 599 00:51:28,64 --> 00:51:29,37 of where 600 00:51:29,41 --> 00:51:33,80 a laundry warehouse was about ready to go out of business and the city actually 601 00:51:33,81 --> 00:51:39,28 helped turn it into an owner run cooperative So not only is that 602 00:51:39,29 --> 00:51:44,27 a good thing for the hundreds of families that get work through the cooperative but 603 00:51:44,28 --> 00:51:49,19 it's also a good thing for for the politics of a city because of 604 00:51:49,20 --> 00:51:54,90 a sudden every day people because they have income security you can look at new 605 00:51:54,91 --> 00:52:00,53 development and analyze what they want and what they don't want outside of kind of 606 00:52:00,54 --> 00:52:05,69 the hostage situation of urban development where you have to have housing or jobs 607 00:52:05,70 --> 00:52:08,80 jobs or housing and that's you know that's 608 00:52:08,81 --> 00:52:15,77 a that's very important so. And you know certainly you know certainly in 609 00:52:15,78 --> 00:52:21,63 the house in the housing realm you know. We don't have doesn't have to be purely 610 00:52:21,64 --> 00:52:27,46 for profit we can have massive amounts of. Housing that is not for profit in every 611 00:52:27,47 --> 00:52:29,82 single city especially one was 612 00:52:29,83 --> 00:52:34,71 a cooperative housing that in addition to providing the affordability and the 613 00:52:34,72 --> 00:52:39,50 stability also makes ask you know the interesting thing about 614 00:52:39,51 --> 00:52:42,83 a Community Land Trust or any form or cooperate of housing It also asked the 615 00:52:42,84 --> 00:52:48,94 individual to take personal responsibility in their community to help manage the 616 00:52:49,23 --> 00:52:53,02 the building to help the neighborhood of develop in a positive in 617 00:52:53,03 --> 00:52:59,23 a positive way so it kind of completely short circuits the philosophical debates we 618 00:52:59,24 --> 00:53:04,21 offer that often stifle this. You know how do you see this. 619 00:53:06,49 --> 00:53:09,60 Collaborative how the. Act of 620 00:53:09,61 --> 00:53:16,16 a good public good. Yeah to tear down the county Yeah and they're 621 00:53:16,17 --> 00:53:22,59 privatized and. You know that's going to lead to all those people and their numbers 622 00:53:23,08 --> 00:53:29,68 but you know there's collaborative housing you never hear about we need both I 623 00:53:29,69 --> 00:53:36,48 don't think it's an either or public housing can be read can be reimagined 624 00:53:36,69 --> 00:53:43,60 by and for the people who actually live live there it's been the the number 625 00:53:43,61 --> 00:53:49,00 one best protection against homelessness despite all of the problems but. 626 00:53:50,45 --> 00:53:56,92 San Francisco during the Hope Six program you saw the tenants organized around the 627 00:53:56,93 --> 00:53:57,72 hope six crosses 628 00:53:57,73 --> 00:54:02,59 a demolishing their buildings and rebuilding it their demands were very very simple 629 00:54:02,63 --> 00:54:06,76 they wanted the process to be something that helped stabilize the community 630 00:54:06,86 --> 00:54:11,15 buildings to be things that they could come back to that would get third kids into 631 00:54:11,41 --> 00:54:16,21 good paying construction jobs it wasn't anything too fancy it was very better right 632 00:54:16,22 --> 00:54:17,55 in butter but we saw 633 00:54:17,79 --> 00:54:24,78 a massive missed opportunity in most parts of the United States to really really 634 00:54:24,79 --> 00:54:29,27 rebuild public public housing from the from the ground up as an anti displacement 635 00:54:29,28 --> 00:54:33,07 tool as an economic development tool basically as 636 00:54:33,08 --> 00:54:38,34 a new deal for cities to put to really put people back to work unfortunately in 637 00:54:38,35 --> 00:54:43,31 most cities and certainly the Clinton administration they just weren't weren't 638 00:54:43,32 --> 00:54:48,59 interested in going down that route so cooperative housing is extremely important 639 00:54:49,13 --> 00:54:54,83 you know cooperate cooperate of housing like I mentioned. When it's done when it's 640 00:54:54,84 --> 00:54:57,27 done well when it's done in 641 00:54:57,28 --> 00:55:01,70 a permanently affordable way can stop displacement can help take buildings that are 642 00:55:01,71 --> 00:55:05,91 currently in jeopardy of going to market in putting them into 643 00:55:05,92 --> 00:55:11,96 a different sector of the economy that is there to help the help the help the 644 00:55:11,97 --> 00:55:18,89 community stays staying grow in place so we need both you know it's not it's 645 00:55:18,90 --> 00:55:25,78 not an either or how do you see. Some kind of financing 646 00:55:26,48 --> 00:55:31,87 if you actually create. Well you know I think it's it's all about 647 00:55:31,88 --> 00:55:37,57 a matter of. Building community pressure for those kinds of reforms because I think 648 00:55:37,58 --> 00:55:44,08 that you know policy tools like land banking and community land trusts are key to 649 00:55:44,09 --> 00:55:49,35 making sure that the land that we live on is affordable in perpetuity right because 650 00:55:49,35 --> 00:55:53,74 . That's the problem with development is that it's this speculation this quick turn 651 00:55:53,75 --> 00:55:59,54 around profit where. You know someone who has the capital can just buy all the land 652 00:55:59,55 --> 00:56:03,66 to displace a lot of people that are on it and that is a you know us 653 00:56:03,93 --> 00:56:09,61 a story that runs throughout history right so these are big challenges but I think 654 00:56:09,62 --> 00:56:16,49 that other cities have tackled it with. You know like land trusts and land 655 00:56:16,50 --> 00:56:20,82 banking and kind of taking land out of the private market and holding them in 656 00:56:20,86 --> 00:56:22,76 public hands and I think that that's 657 00:56:22,77 --> 00:56:26,73 a good way to maintain permanent affordability for folks in terms of the political 658 00:56:26,74 --> 00:56:31,25 prospects of that happening I mean I think that now is the time to start talking 659 00:56:31,26 --> 00:56:37,42 about those things and I think that. You know looking at corporations looking at. 660 00:56:38,76 --> 00:56:45,53 You know. You know the wealthy. For. You know 661 00:56:45,54 --> 00:56:45,83 creating 662 00:56:45,84 --> 00:56:49,59 a tax system that would support that kind of land reform is probably the way to go 663 00:56:49,67 --> 00:56:53,05 go forward with that now what that means in terms of the city council what 664 00:56:53,06 --> 00:56:55,52 direction they will go it's probably too soon to say this year. 665 00:57:00,72 --> 00:57:06,60 Well Seattle I mean you know the Seattle has the homestead land trust and they do 666 00:57:06,61 --> 00:57:10,39 great work and during the foreclosure crisis they were going out and buying up all 667 00:57:10,40 --> 00:57:14,60 these properties that have been foreclosed on and were way below market that they 668 00:57:14,61 --> 00:57:20,09 would have otherwise been in the expanded their pool of land that was held in this 669 00:57:20,10 --> 00:57:24,51 trust and now there are you know low income to moderate income families living in 670 00:57:24,52 --> 00:57:27,07 those buildings so I think Seattle's already doing it's just 671 00:57:27,08 --> 00:57:32,50 a matter of bringing it to scale and I think that's the challenge yeah. Yeah you 672 00:57:32,51 --> 00:57:33,03 got Thank you.